Around the ABL: July 26-August 1

Adam Thomas

July 26: Boston 4, Minnesota 0. With Norm Jackson continuing to struggle, Adam Thomas (12-4) has had to step up for the Cardinals. Tonight he holds the Berserkers silent for seven innings, striking out eight while walking one. Alex Austin homers and drives in two.

Rodney
Armstrong

July 26: Kansas City 9, Ann Arbor 0. Rodney Armstrong (5-7) shuts down Z-Rod and the Barn Owl bats, striking out nine over 8 2/3 innings of work. It was a real confidence-booster for Armstrong, who got shelled in his past two starts. Jesús Cruz knocks in three, and Ricardo Marquis hits a two-run homer.

Ángel Galindo

July 26: Maple 0, Carolina 1. Crush pitching continues to rank as the best in the Clemente League, even as their hitters rank among the league's worst. But Carolina continues to win the close ones. Bo Hall hits a solo home run in the fifth, and that's all the offense that Ángel Galindo (13-1) and three relievers need. Galindo pitches seven shutout innings, allowing three hits and four walks. Roberto Martínez (12-6) gives up just the one run but gets the hard-luck loss.

July 26: Eureka 2, Dallas 10. Brandon Farmer goes 3-for-4 with a three-run home run. Recently promoted Tom Chandler (1-1) bends but doesn't break: he gives up 10 hits but only two runs over 7 2/3 innings of work.

July 27: Georgia 9, Montreal 7. The Ghost Busters squander a 7-1 lead. The Bandits score two in the sixth, seventh, and eighth—with Gene O'Reilly singling in Stanislav Izyurov to tie the game—but they can't break through and take the lead. Montreal strands runners in scoring position in the eighth, ninth, 10th, and 11th innings. In the 12th, Georgia's Steve O'Donnell doubles in Dave Hall, and the Ghost Busters foil the Bandit's comeback plans.

Armando
Rodríguez

July 27: Kansas City 10, Ann Arbor 4. Armando Rodríguez is a one-man wrecking crew. He goes 4-for-6 with two doubles and two home runs, scoring three times while driving in five—he even steals a base. The second baseman leads the Tornadoes in both home runs (24) and RBIs (84) and is a big part of why Kansas City is competing for the Anderson Division crown.

Eric Williams

July 27: Jersey 5, Montgomery 6. The Jesters take a three-run lead, 5-2, into the bottom of the ninth. Closer Cisco Sánchez promptly retires the first two batters—a ground ball to short and a strikeout—and works the count on Victor Welsh to 0-2. One strike from defeat, Welsh singles. Henry Bell follows with a single of his own, and Curt Dempsey works a walk. With the bases now loaded, Eric Williams steps to the plate. He swings at the first pitch and drives it 426 feet: a walk-off grand slam!

July 28: Maple 2, Carolina 1. In the third, Jorge Rodríguez hits a solo home run for the Marauders. In the seventh, Greg Beard hits a solo home run for the Crush. In the 11th, Frank Powers hits a solo home run, winning the game for the Marauders.

Sean Bowman

July 28: Georgia 9, Montreal 8. Sean Bowman goes 5-for-5 with three doubles, scoring twice but, strangely, finishing without an RBI. His single in the fourth kicks off a seven-run inning. Ed Hill caps the inning with a three-run homer.

Ruben Ruíz

July 28: Kansas City 6, Ann Arbor 9. Did he think about stopping at second? Barn Owl Ruben Ruíz singles in the third, homers in the fifth, and triples in the sixth. Needing only a double to complete the cycle, Ruíz comes to bat in the eighth and his a ball off the wall in center. The speedy Ruíz races around second and gets to third with a stand-up triple. So, did he consider stopping at second base and completing the cycle? "I didn't want second base," said Ruíz after the game, "I wanted to get home."

Maurice Gould

July 28: Las Vegas 7, Nottinghamshire 1. Maurice Gould (17-2) shows yet again why his is the most dominant arm in baseball. Today he pitches a complete game and strikes out 14 Outlaws. His only mistake is allowing a home run to Brendon Palmer. Back-to-back homers in the first from Phillip Smith and José Ortíz provide all the scoring Gould needs. On the season, Gould now has 220 strikeouts in 169 2/3 innings (58 more than second place Raúl Pérez) and a 2.07 ERA. Easily the favorite to repeat as the Munson League Cy Young winner, Gould is making a serious bid at also being named Most Valuable Player.

Henry Grant

July 29: So Cal 3, Montgomery 2. Henry Grant (3-5) kept pounding the strike zone, but the Cats' bats couldn't get good wood on them. Grant began the season in the Republic rotation, but a 6.31 after eight starts earned him a demotion to the bullpen. Tonight, Grant was granted another chance to start, and he made the most of it, tossing eight shutout innings, striking out seven while walking none and allowing only four hits.

July 29: Maple 4, South Carolina 5. Marauder Anthony Lewis ties the game in the eighth with a two-run homer, but Gunner Smart wins the game for the Bombers with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th. Stephen Jackson also homers, just his second homer since returning from injury one month ago.

Jeremy Rogers

July 30: Maple 0, South Carolina 6. Jeremy Rogers (8-4) strikes out nine and gives up a walk and five hits, all singles, as he shuts out the Marauders. Francisco Alfonzo slugs two home runs and drives in four. Since being acquired via trade, Alfonzo has disappointed, getting injured in his first game for his new club and then, when he returned, going 28 games without a home run, but he has now hit six homers in the past seven games.

July 30: San Diego 5, Washington 6. In the eighth, with the Hops leading, 5-4, Chance Everett hits a two-run homer and gives the Capitalists the lead. Washington sweeps the Hops—darn near the only good thing to happen to the Capitalists all month. They go 5-20 in July, and, prior to the San Diego series, lost 19 of 20 games.

July 30: Jersey 0, San Francisco 4. Brad Anderson (7-11) continues to run hot and cold. Six days after being tagged for eight runs in less than two innings, Anderson pitches 7 1/3 innings without allowing a run. He strikes out seven, walks one, and allows four hits, all singles. Anderson has the stuff to win, but can he learn to control it?

David Reynolds

July 30: Mile High 5, Eureka 2. On April 21 of last season David Reynolds came into the game with the Mustangs leading the Carolina Crush, 4-3. A double and a George Gilliam single tied the game, and a Greg Gordon home run won the game for the Carolina. That was the last time that Reynolds blew a save.

Tonight, Reynolds slammed the door on his opponents for an incredible 70th consecutive time, striking out Júlio Sánchez for the final out. He saved 43 games a year ago, posting a 1.80 ERA, and he leaves tonight's game with a 1.38 ERA and a league-leading 32 saves.

Jim Brady

July 30: Montreal 0, Minnesota 11. After struggling through the first half of this season, Jim Brady (8-10) is looking like an ace again. He shuts down the powerful Bandit offense for 7 2/3 innings—the second game in a row that he has not allowed a run. Peter Blanchard leads the Berserker offense by hitting a pair of two-run home runs.

July 31: Mile High 4, Eureka 5. All things must end, and tonight the Hornets snap David Reynolds's save streak. With the Mustangs leading, 4-3, and one out and a runner on first, Orlando Corranzo turned on a Reynolds cutter and hit a laser down the left-field line, landing just fair about three rows up in the bleachers. "The streak doesn't really matter," said Reynolds after the game, "What matters is that we should have swept the Hornets and put ourselves back into playoff contention."

Tom Owens

July 31: Jersey 3, San Francisco 0. Tom Owens (1-0) smoked his fastball past batters from Single-A to Triple-A, and now the 19-year-old phenom is getting a chance on the big club. Tonight, in his fourth major league start, he pitches eight shutout innings, giving up only three hits and earning his first major league win.

Marlon Bentley

July 31: Ann Arbor 8, Nottinghamshire 9. Javier García's ninth-inning two-run homer puts the Barn Owls ahead, 8-3, and Ann Arbor looks like they will salvage the third game of the series. But this young Outlaw team does not give up. In the bottom of the ninth, Peter Kelly, Byron Bryant, and Allen Green each single, scoring one run and forcing the Owls to bring in their closer, Darryl Bradshaw. Marlon Bentley triples to the right field corner (scoring two more), Brendon Palmer walks on four pitches, and Joe O'Neal doubles, scoring one more and leaving the Outlaws a run down with runners on second and third. Jim Crawford hits a fly ball to right, but Lorenzo Rodríguez misplays it and lets the ball fall five feet to his left. The winning run comes around to score, and Nottinghamshire sweeps Ann Arbor at home in dramatic fashion.

Emílio Guerrero

July 31: Montreal 10, Minnesota 7. Teenage superstar Peter Blanchard hits his 30th home run of the season, and Berserker teammate Joe Booth hits two home runs. (Booth, by the way, is quietly having another strong season, batting .326 with 19 homers.) It's not enough. Montreal's juggernaut offense drives starter Chris Wine (8-8) from the game in the first inning. Tom Becker goes 5-for-6, and Emílio Guerrero goes 3-for-4 with three RBIs. How strong are the World-Champion Bandits' bats? Consider this: Guerrero has hit 19 home runs this season and has an .843 OPS, yet he is batting ninth.

Jorge Mora

July 31: Dallas 3, New York 7. Jorge Mora's two-run homer gives the Mafia the early lead, but the Texans tie it in the eighth on a Jeffery McDonald sac fly. The game goes to the 10th, and Mora comes to bat with the bases juiced. He lines a walk-off grand slam into the right-field bleachers.

July 31: So Cal 8, Montgomery 6. Charles McConnell doubles in Alfredo Yánez to put the Republic ahead, 6-5, but Curt Dempsey's bottom-of-the-ninth solo shot re-ties the game. In the 12th, Jeffrey Hensley hits a two-run home run, and So Cal beats the Cats.

Davey Holmes

August 1: Georgia 4, Cabo San Lucas 0. Sean Bowman hits a solo home run in the second, and Steve O'Donnell and Ed Hill hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth. Both starters pitch complete games, but Davey Holmes (13-5) shuts out Cabo out-duels Torero ace Wilfred Brooks (13-6). Holmes shuts out Cabo, striking out six while walking none. He is having a strong season for the Ghost Busters: the fly-ball lefty has a 3.94 ERA over 22 starts, striking out 95 while walking 38.

Jimmy Ethridge

August 1: Jacksonville 3, Boston 1. Jimmy Ethridge (8-8) had his knuckle curve working today. He hurls eight scoreless innings, allowing only four hits and a walk. "When he's got that knuckler flutterin'," said Will Bauer, who went 0-for-4 against Ethridge, "You can swing at it, but it's pure luck if you hit it."

Eduardo Gómez

August 1: Las Vegas 5, Eureka 7. With three-fifths of the Hornet outfield on the DL, it's left to recent call-up Joe Sharpe to double off the center field wall and tie the game, 5-5. The game remains tied until the 14th, when Eduardo Gómez turns on hanging slider from Francisco García and hits hit 431 feet into the left-center field bleachers.

August 1: Dallas 3, New York 14. The Mafia take out their rivals. Dave Olson hits two home runs, and Ashton Finley hits a grand slam. Rookie on-base machine Bob Fry breaks out of an 0-for-13 slump by going 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored.

Ted Mills

August 1: San Diego 9, Minnesota 3. Ted Mills (3-1) dominated the minor leagues. In his first seven major league starts, he has posted a 2.55 ERA. Today, the 20 year old pitches seven innings, strikes out nine, and allows two runs.

Chris Barrett

August 1: Seattle 8, Carolina 13. The Crush split their four-game series with division-rival Seattle. The Sasquatch take a bigfoot-sized lead, 8-0, but the Chris Barrett leads a Crush comeback. He slugs three-run homers in the fifth and the seventh. On the season, Barrett has certainly been the Crush offensive MVP: he is now batting .341 with 21 homers. Carolina takes the lead in the eighth when Bo Hall doubles in a pair of runs. Hall has split time between Triple-A and the big leagues, both in 2012 and 2013, but he's making the most of his opportunities this season, posting a .972 OPS in 69 at-bats.